Anji was born in 1973 and was 28 years old when she first met the Eighth Doctor and Fitz Kreiner in 2001. She is a third-generation British-Asian and worked as a futures trader. She spent a year studying in Boston and loved being a stockbroker, viewing it like playing a game of chess. Anji thrived on making money, but also understood that possessions only gave one so much happiness.

The series is contradictory as to whether her parents are Indian or Pakistani. Not counting herself among hardcore feminists, she favoured the sciences over religion, preferring rational explanations and not adhering to her parents' beliefs in the Hindu gods. As a result, she rarely went to temple and never wore a sari. She considered her inner self as Asian, although she regarded George as her patron saint. The Doctor reminded Anji of her father, whom she was close with when she was growing up but who had grown distant from her in later years.

She speaks some French, does not like boats, is calm in a crisis and took rape defence classes in University. Although she had travelled through Europe and the United States, she felt the experience too much like home and longed to go somewhere truly new—a wish that was fulfilled when she began to travel with the Doctor.

Her boyfriend, science fiction fan Dave, dies at the end of Escape Velocity and how Anji comes to terms with his memory is a recurring theme in the character's development, notably in the novel Hope in which Anji causes a clone of Dave to be born.

Anji left the TARDIS in Timeless by Stephen Cole, becoming the legal guardian of Chloe, a young, time-sensitive girl. Anji returned to her old profession and used some of the knowledge of future trends to make a tidy profit for herself in the futures markets. When she next appeared in The Gallifrey Chronicles by Lance Parkin, Anji was engaged to a man named Greg. It was also revealed that she had kept in touch with the Doctor's latest companion, Trix, who continued to feed Anji stock tips. In exchange, Anji placed a share of the money aside in an account for Trix.

In an article in Doctor Who Magazine #294 (with accompanying illustration), Eighth Doctor Adventures editor Justin Richards mentioned that people had asked if Anji was based on Milly, a similar character from the television series This Life, portrayed by Amita Dhiri. Richards noted that although any similarities were unintended, companions were archetypal "to a degree".